My friend has a barrel over on the GGVG classifed that I find interesting. We've discussed the concept of cutting off a TC barrel and threading it to receive a threaded barrel. Well here's one such example:

7MM TCU Shilen 15 in. Octagonal barrel,
matte blue finish, includes weaver base,
drilled for front sight, EXCELLENT CONDITON. This barrel was made by Pennsylvania gunsmith Barry Brown by threading a Shilen match blank into the rear section of a factory contender barrel. This allows for normal barrel to frame lockup while providing the accuracy of a Shilen barrel. $250.00 shipped to continental U.S. Also have RCBS dies that I will sell for $15.00 if desired by buyer.

What are y'all's thoughts on such a rig?

Pat, I "stub in" barrels like that once in awhile, but prefer to keep the bore sizes smaller than 7mm due to the relatively thin barrel wall that remains where the two parts are joined together. This area gets quite a bit of flexing during shooting and if the barrel is snapped shut pretty hard. There is quite a bit of leverage against the small, thin-walled barrel tenon.

For many, many years, Shilen used barrel steel that was Rc 19 hardness, which is pretty soft compared to what most everyone else used..... average hardness from other makers and from most commercial manufacturers is more like Rc 25. The soft steel would be more prone to bending than the harder steels.

For about the last 10 years, Shilen has been using steel that is about Rc 29 hardness, harder than most. If the barrel in question has been made from a blank that is of the current, harder material, I would feel much better about it as a stubbed in 7mm barrel.

$250 is not an unreasonable price, but the quality of the chamber work, especially, will determine whether it is a good buy or not. The octagon mill work is worth quite a bit of $$, but it has no real bearing on the functionality of the barrel.... neat looking though.

Again, I would feel more "warm and fuzzy" if the bore size were smaller.

BTW, your bud, Sean, will be getting your .22 Mag. back in a few days. I recut the dovetail slot today and installed a larger dovetail lock to repair the stripped out slot.

Perhaps you saw that some of the ammo Sean was shooting had bullets about a half thous. larger than standard. I also extended the throat to what I normally cut. I had cut it short in anticipation of shooting lighter bullets, but between the short throat and the larger diameter bullets, it was not shooting as well as expected.

Hopefully it will now, with Sean's tender massaging of the trigger, coax all bullets into the same point of impact.

Mike

Kirk was there a picture of the barrel?If so where can i find it.